{"id":614963,"date":"2026-04-19T18:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614963\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T18:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:37:18","slug":"chips-vs-fries-i-speak-english-fluently-and-yet-i-am-always-translating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614963\/","title":{"rendered":"Chips vs. fries: I speak English fluently and yet I am always translating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

This is a First Person column by Wole Olayinka, who lives in Calgary. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was ordering lunch over the counter when I froze because I couldn\u2019t remember how to say \u201cplastic bags.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nylon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Poly bag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those were the English words bubbling up because that\u2019s what it’s called in Nigeria, where I lived until I moved to Canada in 2022, when I was 29 years old. I knew the correct Canadian vocabulary, but I couldn’t recall it at that moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I gestured with my hands to demonstrate the item and the attendant thankfully found the words for me. \u201cOh, plastic bags?\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s not always that dramatic. Sometimes it’s just a word I use confidently that doesn\u2019t land. I once said something was \u201cin the boot\u201d of my car, and someone had to help me translate it to \u201ctrunk\u201d for others to understand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my mind, I hadn’t said anything unusual. I’d spoken English \u2014 my first language, the language of my education, my career and my everyday thoughts. But the word I reached for and the word they expected were not the same, and in that gap, I became someone who needed help being understood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has made me think about how my experience in Canada is framed \u2014 more than I expected \u2014 by language.<\/p>\n

Food, for instance. How often I have struggled to understand menus or choose food because most of the words are unfamiliar. When people talk about candies and cookies, I have to remind myself that they are talking about sweets and biscuits. Pop or soda are soft drinks. Those french fries are chips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of these disparities, I often have to stop mid-sentence to translate in my head. Those pauses often cost me the joke or a rhythm that\u2019s key to what I was trying to say. Sometimes, everything gets lost in translation before it even leaves my mouth.<\/p>\n

\"AOlayinka grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, before moving to Canada when he was 29. (Submitted by Wole Olayinka)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the issue of Nigerianisms that slip out when I get comfortable. Not long ago, I was talking to a colleague about something at work. I’d sent her an email and wanted to know if she’d seen it, so I said something like, “You saw my email, abi?”\u00a0<\/p>\n

She paused, some confusion in her eyes. And then answered my question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She didn’t ask what \u201cabi\u201d meant, but she had heard it and most likely wondered. In Nigeria, that word would have kept things light. A gentle “right?” Here, it created a snag in the conversation. How do I begin to explain that the word is not gibberish? That it does serious work and losing it in casual conversations slows and stumbles me.<\/p>\n

I carry these struggles around with me. Like when I stand out as Black in rooms, whether as the only one or one of a few. And when I open my mouth to speak in English \u2014 the very thing that should connect me becomes another layer of distance. English is familiar, but it becomes unfamiliar when I speak it. It is mine, yet always requires adjustment.<\/p>\n

I felt this need for adjustment during the English test I took as part of my immigration requirements. I had to discuss a made-up concert experience with the interviewer assessing my speaking skills and I sputtered a few times. It felt like driving up a bumpy hill. Part of that was nerves. But most of the nerves came from the pressure to speak English in a non-Nigerian way. And yet, I was discussing concerts \u2014 something I’d only ever talked about colloquially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, there have been wins in the past four years of living in Canada. When I first started working in my office, conversations happening across the room sounded to me like muffled noise. Parts of those conversations were lost to me because of unfamiliar intonation and pacing. I used to sit with rapt attention, straining to catch snippets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These days, however, I wear earphones to block those same conversations because they are crystal clear even when I am lost in something else.\u00a0Progress like this is important. There is research showing that dialect shapes social perception<\/a> \u2014 that the way we sound can influence how capable or trustworthy we seem. <\/p>\n

Dialects also shape identity \u2013 it’s a marker of who you are and what community you’re from. <\/p>\n

\"ASince moving to Calgary, Olayinka has had to adjust to a new culture, climate and, surprisingly, also a new way of speaking English. (Submitted by Wole Olayinka)<\/p>\n

I think about that often now. Before coming to Canada, I imagined language barriers as something visible and obvious. I did not consider the less visible barrier of speaking English in a way that requires constant adjustment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if words will always stall in my mouth. Nylon or plastic bag. Boot or trunk. In those pauses, I am reminded that my migration was also across dialects, not just continents. I already had the language. What I did not yet have was the version expected of me. The version through which my belonging can be measured. <\/p>\n

Do you have a compelling personal story that can bring understanding or help others? We want to hear from you. Here’s\u00a0more info on how to pitch to us<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians \u2014 from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community \u2014 check out Being Black in Canada<\/a>, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. <\/p>\n

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